Mind Sports South Africa's (MSSA) blog on competitive gaming in South Africa from proto-computer gaming all the way through to the most modern. For more about MSSA go to: https://www.facebook.com/mindsportssa/
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Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Ion Todd (from Cape Town) is the captain of South Africa's MWEB Dota
2 Protea Team which played against Namibia in an IeSF Test Match on
Saturday, 25 October 2014 in a bid to ready itself for the IeSF's
2014 World Championships to be held in Baku from 12 to 17 November
2014.

The MWEB Dota 2 Protea Team is now beginning to look almost
like a veteran team of cyber-athletes. After having
previously pitted their strength against Egypt and Finland
in two IeSF Test Matches, the team has learnt many valuable
lessons and has been able to sort out many of the weaknesses
that they may have had.

It was clear right from the onset that the South African
team had the upper hand, although the Namibian team captain,
Johan Otto, proved to be no slouch and lead one defiant
attack after another.

However, the South African team brushed off the attacks
and slowly and deliberately built up their attack. By the
time that South Africa was ready, Timothy van Reenen
Mostert was almost unassailable on the field of play. With
Timothy working in close co-operation with Dylan
Henderson, there was little that the hapless Namibians
could do to stop the rampant South African team. As a
result, South Africa won both games to take a 2 - 0
victory. South Africa won the first game 37 -14 and won
the second game 48 - 30.

Not only that, but the game held at MWEB's MCave saw each
of the five South African player's earn their sixth cap.

The awarding of the sixth cap means that this team is
without doubt the most internationally tested Dota 2 team
that will depart South Africa for the IeSF's 6th eSport
World Championships in Baku.

Thanks to the governing Sports Body, Minds Sports South
Africa (MSSA) and the support given by MWEB Gaming , the
South African participation in such test matches is
becoming a regular occurrence.

With eSports now recognised as a fully recognised sport by
both SASCOC and the government, gaming is now taken more
seriously than ever before. Already gaming has been
included into the Asian Games by the Asian Olympic
Committee.

Test matches between South Africa and Namibia are al;ways
entertaining with a great deal of honour on the line.

Since 1997,
MWEB has been championing a free web in South Africa. It
has led the industry from the start with the
introduction of the Internet to South Africans to the
launch of South Africa’s first Uncapped ADSL product.
Today, MWEB provides Internet connectivity and solutions
for home users, business owners and large corporates.

Dedicated to
constantly driving change in the industry and deploying
world class research and development teams, MWEB is
focused on removing all barriers to Internet
connectivity and services to positively impact its
customers and broaden the South African Internet
landscape.

MWEB is
owned by JSE-listed MultiChoice South Africa Holdings
Limited, a Naspers Limited subsidiary that has more than
30% Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment shareholders.

About
Mind Sports South Africa

Mind Sports
South Africa (MSSA) is an affiliate of the South African
Confederation of Sport and Olympic Committee.

The MSSA is
responsible for the good governance and promotion of
Board games (such as Backgammon, Diplomacy, Checkers,
Draughts, Morabaraba, etc.), Card games, eSports
(whether they are played on ‘cell phones, Sony® PSP’s,
personal computers or similar), and Historical figure
games (also known as wargames)

Saturday, 18 October 2014

As the IeSF's 2014 World Championships to be held in Baku from 12 to
17 November 2014 comes ever closer, teams are
frantically trying to ready themselves for what will be the test of
the year and result in world champions being produced in a a number
of titles.

Through the IeSF's on-line test matches, South Africa is able
to test the team against worthy adversaries. The European
teams of course, are able to attend many more tournaments than
what cash-strapped South Africans can, and thus develop their
teams to apparently unassailable heights.

Already the South African Dota 2 team has tested themselves
against Egypt and Finland. Both teams are juggernauts in the
eSports arena.

The Protea Dota 2 team has learnt many valuable lessons
against both Egypt and Finland. The skill of the
internationally experienced players was clear to see and the
South Africans have gleaned from them what they could.

Namibia like
South Africa, finds itself outside of the mainstream of
international competition, but Namibia is fiercely
competitive. Namibia never gives quarter and as has always
given their best when playing against South Africa in all
eSports test matches between the two countries. There
could not be a greater rivalry!

Both nations are thus enthusiastically rushing forward to
this clash.

The Test Match will be held on Saturday, 25 October 2014
from 15H00.

MWEB has kindly allowed the MSSA to use its Mcave which is
located in its head office in Cape Town for the Dota 2 team.

The MSSA is
confident that the National Team that will represent South
Africa with pride and honour, is without doubt the finest
team that it has fielded.

Thanks to the governing Sports Body, Minds Sports South
Africa (MSSA) and the support given by MWEB Gaming , the
South African participation in such test matches is becoming
a regular occurrence.

With eSports now recognised as a fully recognised sport by
both SASCOC and the government, gaming is now taken more
seriously than ever before. Already gaming has been included
into the Asian Games by the Asian Olympic Committee.

Test matches between South Africa and Namibia are al;ways
entertaining with a great deal of honour on the line.

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

While talking to current MSSA committee members, one comes across a number of differing views about the number of committee positions available in 2015.

And why?

Because the system is totally democratic.

It is nothing else other than true democracy in action

Any member club can propose any Registered Player to stand for a position. In other words, the MSSA, as sponsored by MWEB, allows absolute control by its own membership.

The MSSA is therefore a sports body that fully subscribes to the notion of self-governance of the federation by the member clubs.

And this is something that SASCOC is trying to reign in. SASCOC wants succession plans which would stop committees from truly reflecting the face of the membership that they represent.

However, the MSSA remains true to its democratic principles and fights hard to ensure that the democratic principles are retained at all levels within the organization.

Thus, it is impossible to even predict who will be on the Management Board until all the nominations are in.

Then of course, the horse-trading begins as clubs start negotiating with other clubs to get support for their candidates.

However, the most interesting position available is the one for which clubs do not vote. Instead every Registered Player votes for the candidate.

The position is none other than that of the Player's Representative.

To be nominated as the Player's Representative, the nominee must have at least National or Protea Colours, have represented South Africa in international competition, and be below the age of 30 at the time of election.

This committee member is to represent the views of the gamers!

With the increase of MSSA players participating in international events, it will indeed be interesting to see who stands.

Sunday, 12 October 2014

Please
note that the end of the year is rushing down upon us.
As such there
is a huge amount of administrative work to finish

before
the Annual
General Meeting to be held on 7 December 2014.

The
AGM will no doubt be an interesting affair with Mr Simphiwe
Maphumulo
delivering his first annual report.

Much
has been achieved this year, and much more is still to be
done.

Of
course little would have been achieved without the generous
sponsorship from MWEB.

An
interesting aspect of the 2014 Annual general meeting is that
there
are 10 positions that are available for election on the
Management
Board. This means that the majority of the positions are
available
which could mean that the MSSA may present a very different
committee
to what it has done in the past.

As
everyone already knows, the MSSA is a democratic concern,
where it is
the decision of the committee that are enforced, and not the
will of
any one individual.

The
2014 elections may thus prove to be a watershed for all of the
disciplines within the MSSA.

All
gamers are reminded that only affiliated clubs may
nominate players
who are registered and fully-paid-up for positions on
any of the
committee, except for the Player's Representative.

Management
Board: (3 year terms)

Vice-President
in charge of development

Vice-President
in charge of umpiring

Vice-President
in charge of events

Board Gaming
Representative

Card Gaming
Representative

National
Schools Director

Board Gaming
Representative

Legal
Advisor

Disabled Gamer's
Representative

Please
remember that a new Player's Representative also needs
to be elected,
but that is done by the gamers directly in terms of the
rules.The
Player's Representative has to be a player who has
either Protea or
National Colours and has officially represented South
Africa in an
international event and is under the age of 30 years old
at the date
of election. Member clubs do not vote for this position.
Every player
who is fully-paid-up may vote for this position.

Boards
of
Control:
(1 year terms)

Board gaming

Card gaming

eSports

Figure gaming

Schools

Disabled

Provincial
Directors:
(2 year terms)

All but Free State and
Mpumulanga.

Regional
Directors:(1
year term)

All

If you are interested in standing for
any of the top nine positions, you need to be at least
18 years old
at the date of nomination, and you need to be nominated
by a member
club.

Nominations must be submitted by 28 October
2014.

Registered Players who are nominated must be
fully-paid-up at the date of nomination and the date of
election.

Monday, 6 October 2014

One of the biggest problems that all South African sport has, is the
lack of international competitive experience.

It is largely due to the lack of sufficient funds that many of South
Africa's teams are prohibited from participating in enough
international competition.

Thus, through the IeSF's international on-line test matches, South
Africa is afforded the opportunity to play against the best teams in
the world and to prepare for the annual world championships at a
fraction of the cost.

The MSSA thus uses the on-line test series to help prepare the team
for the rigours of the world championships as well as to continually
evaluate not only the South African Protea team, but also the other
international teams.

Thus on Saturday, 4 October 2014, South Africa took on Finland.

The Finnish team boasts of many of the world's top players, and,
arguably, the Finnish team is one of the most dominant teams in
world eSports.

Thus, South Africa knew what was at stake as well as the fact that
the South African team were clearly the underdogs.

The test match was to be played in two titles, being StarCraft II
and Dota 2.

Unfortunately the one game of StarCraft II had to be cancelled due
to connectivity issues. The game involved Yolandi 'Ananke' Williams
who was to play from Wits University. Even though Wits has an
incredible internet connection, it proved not to be reliable enough
for the test match and such game was cancelled. Of course Yolandi
was saddened by the cancellation as she was looking forward to a
rematch against Niina "Soyhi" Kahela (Finland) whom Yolandi had
faced off against at the 2013 IeSF World Championships - Bucharest.

In the StarCraft II match between Nathan 'Static' Anderson (SA) and
Vesa "Welmu" Hovinen (Finland), Nathan lost both games. However, it
must be noted that Vesa is arguably one of the top players outside
Korea. On examining the replays, it is absolutely clear that Nathan
is much improved since he represented South Africa in Bucharest in
2013. The replays too show where work has to be done.

In Dota 2, the
Finnish team, ably lead by the world-renown Kalle "Trixi"
Saarinen delivered two resounding defeats on the South
African team. No quarter was given by the Finnish team who
demonstrated why they are the main contenders for the World
Championship title.

However, the
South African team showed remarkable improvement since their
game against Egypt in August. Lessons have been learnt and
the team has improved.

There is still a long road to travel, and much improvement
still needs to be done.

Nevertheless,
the optimism, willingness to learn, and commitment shown by
the South African team bodes well for the remaining test
matches as well as for the actual World Championships.

The on-line test
matches thus provide a valuable platform for the South
African eSports players to test themselves against the
international opposition, have a critical look at their
tactics and prepare for the upcoming 2014 World
Championships to be held in Baku.

Saturday, 4 October 2014

The Calendar is no less busy than in previous years, and it has increased the number of on-line championships both at school level as well as for Premier players.

Unfortunately certain events have been dropped, such as the On-line Schools StarCraft Championships, but what with StarCraft II being played very actively in the MSSA's MWEB On-line Schools championships, such a duplication is no longer required.

I feel that the moving of the Free State Championship to June is also encouraging. To hold the Free State event in September is quite awkward for this eSports hungry province. Generally the MSSA holds its National Team Trials for the IeSF's World Championships in early September, which I feel may have compromised some of the wonderful talent that exists in the province.

Wednesday, 1 October 2014

As interest and excitement grows within the selected team for the
IeSF's 2014 World Championships to be held in Baku from 12 to 17
November

2014, both the Federation and
the team members are hard at work trying to ready themselves for
the test of the year.

Through the IeSF's on-line test matches, South Africa is able to
test the team against worthy adversaries. The European teams of
course, are able to attend many more tournaments than what
cash-strapped South Africans can, and thus develop their teams to
apparently unassailable heights.

However, through South African determination and sheer fortitude,
South African gamers have been able to, from time-to-time, scale
the misconceptions and establish themselves as contenders in the
highly competitive world of eSports.

The on-line test
matches thus provide a valuable platform for the South African
eSports players to

test themselves against the international
opposition, have a critical look at their tactics and prepare
for the upcoming 2014 World Championships to be held in Baku.

The first test
match that the Protea Dota 2 played against, in the current
season, was Egypt. Many valuable lessons were learned.

It is now the time
for South Africa to face Finland.

The Finnish
eSports Federation (FeSF) has selected the top Finnish players
to play for Team Finland in IeSF WC 2014 held in Baku.

FeSF is proud to have Vesa "Welmu" Hovinen from Team NewRoSoft
to represent Finland in StarCraft II. This 20-year old world
class player has been the best Finnish StarCraft II player for
the past two years and arguably one of the top players outside
Korea. Welmu participated Premier League during the last WCS
Season 2 making it to round of 16, visiting shortly Challenger
League to secure a spot in WCS Season 3 Premier League.

The FeSF has
selected Niina "Soyhi" Kahela to represent Finland as their
female competitor in StarCraft II. Niina is a world class
player who, at the 2013 World Championships - Bucharest,
proved to be tha fierce competitor.

For Dota 2, this
year's Finnish line-up consist of such players as Kalle
"Trixi" Saarinen from Fnatic and ex-pro-player Jesse "jerAx"
Vainikka, who still plays world-class Dota 2 and might be seen
again on the pro-scene in the future. Other three players
(Okke, Hopis and fragi) are from the Finnish scene and not as
well known as Trixi and jerAx but play on national top level.
Interesting fact is also that fragi used to play for Finnish
World number 1 placed World of Warcraft guild Paragon during
earlier expansions up to Cataclysm.

The Test Match
will be held on Saturday, 4 October 2014 from 14H00.

The StarCraft II
matches will begin at 14H00 for the males and from 15H00 for
the females.

MWEB has kindly allowed the MSSA to use its Mcave which is
located in its head office in Cape Town for the Dota 2 team and
for the men's game f StarCraft II.

Wits University shall be the venue for the women's game of
StarCraft II.

The MSSA is
confident that the National Team that will represent South
Africa with pride and honour, is without doubt the finest team
that it has fielded.

Thanks to the governing Sports Body, Minds Sports South Africa
(MSSA) and the support given by MWEB Gaming , the South African
participation in such test matches is becoming a regular
occurrence.

With eSports now recognised as a fully recognised sport by both
SASCOC and the government, gaming is now taken more seriously
than ever before. Already gaming has been included into the
Asian Games by the Asian Olympic Committee.

There is no doubt that the South African team has its work cut
out for it. The Finnish team is not an easy match, and the South
African team will be tested.